Different types of cutting systems with which work can be carried out in the field of mining or of road construction by means of roller drills or roller bits according to the undercutting principle are known in the prior art. Roller drills or roller bits which work according to the undercutting principle are characterized by one-sided, conical tool bodies or disks which are mounted on drilling heads or tool arms of, for example, heading machines in such a way that the roller drills can rotate freely about their central axis. The material, such as in particular rock, hard rock or mineral rock, is removed in thin layers according to the undercutting principle. The material is broken out in mostly palm-of-the-hand-sized pieces by the cutting faces, which widen conically starting from the drilling head and detach the rock in thin layers with an undercutting action. In order to achieve a high removal rate, usually a plurality of roller bits or roller drills are mounted on a rotatable drilling head or on a drilling head which is rotationally driven at high speed with superimposed impact (cf., e.g., DE 198 38 195 A1 or WO 92/10647).
Since the roller drills or roller bits working according to the undercutting principle and having conically widening cutting faces formed only on one side are applied obliquely to the rock face to be removed, the cutting faces of the roller bits and in particular the cutting edge at the transition between the cutting face and the end face are subjected to axial forces which, due to the system used, are high. The axial forces in turn cause, in particular on the cutting edge at the free margin of the cutting face, system-related rapid wear of the individual roller bits.